Top New Books I Read in 2015

12.29.2015

I've read a great deal interesting books this 2015. Some were old (which I did not include in this list because Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery would win. Every Time.) and some were new. Some I liked a great deal and some I didn't. Here are my favorites for the year (in no particular order):

Dear Mr. Knightley by Katherine Reay will probably always hold a special place in my heart and in my favorites list. Think Jane Austen's Emma meets Jean Webster's Daddy-Long-Legs. Cue in the warm feels and reading this in one day over a cup of tea. I know I read it in one day because I couldn't put it down. Every letter I read from Samantha to Mr. Knightley made me curious to know more about her. Of course, since I've read both Daddy-Long-Legs, I knew who the mysterious "Mr. Knightley" was right away, but that did not make the book any less pleasant or interesting to read.

I realize I have been reading a lot of adaptations this year, but For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund was one of the best. I may be biased because Jane Austen's Persuasion (which this book was adapted from) happens to be my favorite of all that dear old Jane wrote. But, people, this is an adaptation written so well that it does not seem like an adaptation at all but it is as if it is its own book.

Instead of making it an extension of the original book, or applying it in a modern setting, the author applied it to a science fiction setting. Awesome right?

Speaking of adaptations, there's another author that's been writing several, mainly all Jane Austen. She's written her own versions of Pride and Prejudice and Emma, but it is (yes, yes, I know) her adaptation of Persuasion that got me by the feels. This would be Persuasion, Captain Wentworth, and Cracklin' Cornbread by Mary Jane Hathaway. To say that I was heavily affected while reading the book is an understatement. I think I realized more how Captain Wentworth must have felt when Anne rejected him in the original book. What I love about this book is that we see the side of the main male character: his thoughts, his emotions, etc.

Mary Jane Hathaway has another great book that I enjoyed this year: The Pepper in the Gumbo. It's not an adaptation (at least, I think it's not), but it was really, really good. It's not your regular boy meets girl, but more of video games boy meets literature girl. So opposite, right? There could be no two more different people! It's a story about secret identities and first edition of novels, forgotten stories and old bookstores. I think one thing that makes it so significant is that in the world today, the clash between video gamers and literary enthusiasts is quite real! Read and witness the worlds clash and the sparks fly!

Another new author I "tried" this year was Beth K Vogt. I read two books by her this year, but Catch a Falling Star was different and special for me.
I remember attending a workshop where the speaker (who is an author and literature professor) said that he liked the challenge of introducing two totally different characters and bringing them together, and I think Beth does that in this book.
Lovely, lovely read with characters who are so flawed that you can relate to them and can't help but love them.

I know I said "books" but I couldn't choose specific ones in some of the series I read this year so I thought of including everything instead. One example would be the Alaskan Courage Series by Dani Pettrey. What a great, great series! It makes me want to go to Alaska!

After reading these series by Dani Pettrey and Dee Henderson, I set out to find something similar and found Patricia Bradley who wrote the Logan Point Series. I've only read the first two books, but if the rest of the books in the series are like the first two, then they are bound to be great reads.

I didn't just read crime series, of course, but also read historical fiction/period fiction books, namely Timber Ridge Reflections by Tamera Alexander and Michigan Northwoods by Serena B. Miller. Both are post-Civil War series that take place in the West. Beautiful reads about beautiful lands and people as they pick up the pieces of their lives following the Civil War. We read about people going west, finding new jobs, hoping to start anew, and about people who return to their farms hoping to pick up where they left off, only to find that much has changed.

Another great author and series I came across this year would be Hillary Manton Lodge and her Two Blue Doors Series, of which the last book will be released in May 2016. It is because of this book that I want to cook some more and food blog a bit more. Plus, it's a heartwarming story about family, friendships, and relationships.

And last, but certainly not the least, I read one book from Melissa Tagg'sWalker Family Series and one from her Where Love Begins Series this year.
I love stories about families and siblings and I'm definitely hoping she'll write more. I think Melissa Tagg did a great job of tying up her two series together by a couple of characters and I love the town of Maple Valley and Whisper Shore. I hope Melissa will write more!

Dear Mr Knightley for the win! I think that one will always hold a place in my heart too. Such a lovely story! :)

And yay for For Darkness Shows the Stars!! You're exactly right, it doesn't feel like an adaptation at all. It's definitely one of my all time faves. Plus I had the chance to meet the author last year and she was awesome!

I haven't read The Pepper in the Gumbo but now you've intrigued me. Added to goodreads TBR!

Dani Pettrey, Dee Henderson, sounds like you had an amazing year of reading, my friend! :)

"We are torn between nostalgia for the familiar and an urge for the foreign and strange. As often as not, we are homesick most for the places we have never known."

"I need to move around a bit. To shuffle my surroundings. To wake up in cities I don't know my way around and have conversations in languages I cannot entirely comprehend. There is always this tremendous longing in my heart to be lost, to be someplace else, to be far far away from all of this."